eBook Industry: Does Amazon Have a Winning Hand or a Dead Man’s Hand?

Does Amazon have a winning hand or do they need to draw more cards to stay ahead in the game? Amazon is the dominate player in the ebook industry, hands down. In fact, they are so strong that they can sell some products at a loss and still win the hand.

They can do this because ebooks have a very high profit margin. Check this hand out. I can buy an ebook from Amazon and it’s never touched by human hands. No shipping. No warehousing unless you want to count their file servers. The first physical action is when I pay with my credit card and that can be automated if I chose. So the overhead is very low.

Amazon has attacked the ebook industry with a very aggressive marketing strategy. They have chased away bookstore chains and changed publisher’s ways of doing business. In a few words, they have played their hand perfectly by bluffing the other players into thinking that they can’t be beat.

But as most gamblers know the hand is not over until the last card is dealt. Can someone out draw Amazon by coming up with a better strategy or change the game itself?

The Strengths of Amazon’s Hand

So what is the strength of their hand?

Organization: They have setup an organization and internal software system to effectively manage an online business. A customer can buy an ebook online with immediate download and access the ebook, all at a reasonable price.

They approached the industry with deep pockets by leveraging their ebook products with their large pbook distributing system and a wealth of other products all sold online.

Marketing: They have successfully marketed the Kindle eReader and Kindle Fire as a lower than cost device. Readers have rushed to get the affordable devices not realizing they were committing to a controlled, lasting relationship.

Devices: The eReaders are tied to the Amazon format which allows Amazon to control the user and create a captive audience for their ebooks.

Software: Amazon created a software system to sell ebooks electronically and gather information for marketing at the same time.

Sales Tax: I feel the number one advantage Amazon used to defeat bookstores was the lack of sales tax on their products. This translated into a discount in price for all customer purchases. Customers were going to bookstores and reviewing the book. Then they would access the Internet and purchase the pbook or ebook online avoiding the sales tax.

They are starting to lose this winning hand as States across the country are attacking the free lunch tax advantage Amazon has over physical bookstores.

Self-Publishing: They developed an easy to use self-publishing system for would-be authors with a good royalty package. Now established authors are catching on to the added revenue they can earn and are moving their ebooks to the Amazon game.

Amazon Select: They have developed a program called Amazon Select. This program connects publishers who publish exclusively on Kindle to enter the ebook Lending Library. They will then share in Amazon funding, based on the borrowing of their title. Again EXCLUSIVELY is the key word.

Amazon Exclusives: Their Exclusives program is aimed at securing a captive author’s team. Successful authors can opt-in to sell their titles only at the Amazon publishing venture and avoid Apple and other competitors selling them. It is rumored that Amazon’s new retail store venture will handle only Amazon Exclusive titles.

The Weaknesses of Amazon’s Hand

We can see Amazon’s cards. They have a strong hand but the deal isn’t over. Other players will start to play at the ebook table. Here is the ‘tell’ as they say in the gambling world.

Control: Amazon doesn’t control or own the content. They are the distributor of the products but they don’t create it. The publishers and the authors control the ebooks and they can do anything they want to with it. The Amazon Exclusives program is another move to gain control of the marketplace. There is a good chance that the next big superstar author could start in the ebook self-publishing ranks and they are betting on it.

Single Device: One of the weaknesses is Amazon is betting on their own eReader to capture the market. The Kindle and the Fire are not the best or the fastest eReaders on the market. They have tried to buy the market on price and have done so up to this time. But what stands in their way is they will need to move from their proprietary ebook format to more accessible ebook strategy.

Internet Only: Amazon has no physical presence. They have recognized this and have started to setup a bookstore model in Seattle with only the books they publish and their Kindle devices available; again a closed product offering.

Publishers: Their continuing struggle with publishers is another major problem. For example, the problems have put a major hurdle in front of Amazon’s Lending program.

Prime: Amazon has initiated the Prime program with free shipping, movie streaming and ebook lending but there is no apparent ebook advantage or discount to the program unless you count the ebook exposure through lending.

Search Engine: They have developed a product search engine for ebooks that is becoming unwieldy. Amazon will need to limit their ebook selections at some point. My first novel was about President John F. Kennedy’s Assassination. A search for ebooks about JFK found 238 entries and 74 for the assassination. Would anyone look past entry number 50 on the lists? I doubt it.

Reviews: Self-entered reviews have little or no monitoring. Buyers don’t really know if they are true reviews or a friend of the family. Amazon will need a gatekeeper on ebook entries at some point in time to keep up the quality of their product offering.

Can Another Player Draw a Competitive Hand or Change the way the game is played?

If I could pick my hand from the rest of the deck, what cards would I select? Remember this is not like real poker. I wouldn’t have to leave it up to chance.

Multiple eReaders: First, I would sell multiple eReaders and tablets with multiple formats like Best Buy’s selection. I would pick the best devices for the price including Kindle, Nook (while still available) and the iPad because of the popularity.

Physical Stores: Next I would create stores in high density locations with a showroom of products using a physical, hands on approach. The Apple store model appears to be a winning model for this type of marketing.

On-line Marketplace: I would back this up with an on-line marketplace being fed information from surveys and professional reviews. Software is the key to the winning hand here. Software development is not an exclusive talent.

Franchise: I would franchise locations establishing a brand of quality and knowledge. The franchise would sell ebooks, accessories, author’s presentation, some pbooks and apps on site with a Club membership. The members would receive discounts and rewards for purchases.

Meeting and Classrooms: Each store would have in-store classrooms for special events, meetings, readings and guest presentations. The ebooks selection would be organized by genres. Possible one group would discuss Romance novels while another group would meet and discuss Science Fiction. The store would have demos of products on a continuing bases.

Personal Support: In-store product support would be one of the keys to the venture. The goal would be to provide unique hands on service. The staff would be knowledgeable, first in technology, and then the book sales environment.

Workshops: Author’s workshops would be provided for a fee to assist new authors in entering the ebook arena. The workshops would emphasis ebook concepts, formatting, cover design, where and how to sell and where to get professional help. Consulting workshops with experts in the ebook development process would be regularly scheduled.

Vertical Marketing: The new venture would use a vertical marketing approach to the type of ebooks sold. Each location would get access to local authors and seek out local ebooks for its customers. A key here is creating a human interaction using customer recommendations and selection advice. It would be like developing reading centers for groups of readers to share information. This would be backed up by blogging and social networking.

BN lost their chance. They drew to an inside straight so to speak. How BN has announced Sterling Publishing is for sale and are hunting for a buyer for their Nook product line. Their member’s program has failed in the ebook marketplace.

Know When to Hold Them and When to Draw New Cards

In the ebook industry, anyone can repeat what Amazon has done. There are no trade secrets here just aggressive marketing strategies and now deep pockets.

Like Wild Bill Hickok thought that fateful day in 1876 in Saloon No. 10; just when you think you have the winning hand, someone can come along and outdraw you. He had the Dead Man’s hand and he didn’t realize it until it was too late.

Amazon has the winning hand right now but the level of entry in this game has a relative low ante.  Can someone come up with a better solution or can they change the game by improving the products and services? Are there other things you would add this game to create a winning hand?

View my website: HBSystems Publications
Specializing in the ebook experience

Or EMAIL at: jrm@hbspub.com
Or go to my blog: The eBook Author’s Corner

LinkedIn Profile: James Moushon
Author: Call Off The Dogs, a rendered eBook

eBook Authors: Errors and the Dreaded Stigma of Self-Publishing

Self-publishing and ebooks have carried a stigma from day one by naysayers and the traditional publishing world. They forecast the book publishing pipe filled with poor and unreadable digital content because of the self-publishing ebook author.

There has been an increase in errors and poor formatting introduced by the new digital books compared to their pbook counterparts to be sure. So what has gone wrong? And why are these mistakes happening?

Are the self-publishing newbie authors, with their lack of experience, to blame? Does the new digital creation process introduce a new level of errors? Should traditional publishers share in the ‘error’ stigma? What lessons can self-published ebook authors learn to help fix the errors?

With these questions in mind, I took on the task of trying to figure out what is going on here. To me there is more to this than meets the eye.

If done correctly there should not be a problem. If we can spell a word correctly and have the correct tense in a traditional book, we should be able to get it right in an ebook. Formatting should be just as easy. We have been structuring the content of books for a very long time. Let’s break this down and see what we have.

Categories

Generally speaking, ebooks fall into four categories.

1. Legacy: Traditionally published paper books that are converted from paper to a digital form using OCR technology or a retyping procedure to create the ebooks. In most cases there isn’t a digital version of the book available for the source of the ebook. So the book is scanned and the spelling and grammatical problems begin.

2. Modern: Traditionally published paper books that have a digital source that can be used to create the ebook. Basically these are the books that have been published since the increase in popularity of the ebook and ebook reader.

3. Self-Published: Individual authors take it on their own to produce a paper version of their book, followed up with an ebook version. There is a level of errors added here because of the lack of resources and expertise.

4. Ebook Only: Individual ebook authors are creating content and publishing directly to the ebook format, bypassing the paper version altogether. This process is a total digital process. No paper version required. This will become more of an issue when enhanced ebooks start to take off in popularity.

The Cliff

So where do we fall off the cliff with ebooks?

1. First of all the publishers of the Legacy and Modern versions have a ‘get it out the door’ mentality. They are working the system. If they can take advantage of the new ‘ebook’ phenomenon at a small cost, the results go right to their bottom line. Why not?

“Yes we have an ebook version available of that new release but it will cost you more than the paper version until the traditional book is available. We got it to you fast, didn’t we?”

You would think the traditionals would get it right.

2. Next, the self-published version has error problems because of the lack of experience and resources to produce a quality product. Most self-publishers do not seek help from outside sources to improve the quality. This is a fatal mistake.

3. The Ebook Only version has the same problems as the self-published version plus they can be published on Amazon in a heartbeat. I can sit down today, write a 100 page ebook, upload it without any editing, with a typed-faced cover, and it will be for sale in less than a week. No need for an ISBN or copyright filed here. And there is no gatekeeper to clean up the trash. Scary.

Errors and Poor Formatting

Many mistakes occur in the writing process. This is a manual process and you will have spelling errors, grammar errors, formatting problems, incorrect line breaks and page breaks and so on.

Many mistakes occur in the conversion process. The traditional’s lack of quality control and effort and the self-publisher’s lack of knowledge is responsible. Both seem to be getting better at this however.

Retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and Smashwords do enter into the error equation. Each has their own proprietary software which produces the formats readable by our current ebook devices.

However, there is one thing to keep in mind. The retailers do not change the spelling, grammar or tense. They do not create the cover. They do not create the content. So to pass the blame or responsibility to them is a mistake. The actual publisher should take the responsibility for the quality of the ebook.

Lessons

Publishers and self-publishers need to learn lessons as their experience increases in the world of ebooks. Here is a list of lessons you should consider.

1. You need a quality control process in place. Get help if it is needed.

2. Each format you publish should be handled like it is a new product for sale.

3. There is no perfection. You must anticipate problems. For example, inserted pictures should be reviewed on a reading device. If the picture is too large, they will create an unwanted blank page on the device.

4. Proof read your ebook on a reading device and the ‘For PC’ software for each format.

5. Use the same digital file used in your pbook for the source but create a separate file for each published format. They will be slightly different for each retailer.

6. When you send/upload a file to Amazon or BN, the file should be as close to the finished product as you can get it. For example, when I published my ebook, ‘Call Off the Dogs,’ I uploaded a file in the ‘mobi’ format to Amazon and an html format to BN. Both formats required only a slight adjustment by their software to be accepted.

7. When you add value to your ebook with links, audio and video, test the add-ons on each device you will be publishing on. Trust me. Some work and some don’t.

8. Don’t forget to modify the copyright page on each edition you publish. This is a major error made by almost everyone who publishes an ebook, including the traditionals.

Food for Thought

Here are some ideas you can take away from this blog.

1. Publishers of ebooks have the advantage of correcting their mistakes after their ebooks are published. The ebook is not cast in concrete. If you find a significant error or omission, create a new version and upload the corrected copy.

2. The first two chapters (sample) must be error free. One or two title authors can get by with poor quality if their message is of interest and the marketing is superb but repeat business will drop off dramatically if the ebook is riddled with errors.

I don’t care if you have to read and re-read the first two chapters a hundred times, the sample chapters must catch the reader’s attention and they must be error free. In many cases this is the only chance you have to close the sale. Get help on this one. The more eyes the better.

3. If your fiction or non-fiction ebook just doesn’t work out structurally, it may require a complete re-write rather than ruin your reader’s opinion of you.  

4. Your ebook should not be just a copy of the paper version but should be viewed as a complete new product for each new format you publish.

5. If you can’t create a good cover, get someone that can. If you can’t spell, don’t rely on a spell checker to catch your mistakes. Seek someone with the right experience that can edit your ebook for you.

6. Create a quality ebook file. At the end of the process, the file being converted by the retailer must be properly formatted for the target ebook. There should be a different file for each retailer.

7. At the end of the day, sales will be decided by customer purchases and honest reviews. Take for example, J. A. Konrath. He must be doing something right. He has published 20+ ebooks and has been quite successful. If his editing and formatting was poor, his sales would diminish drastically on each title.

Money is made by building an audience. If your ebook’s quality is poor, you will only be a one-time Charlie.

As an ebook author, what can you do to clean up your act and create better quality ebooks? Do traditional publishers have to put more effort into their ebooks? Should you get help for someone with experience or just wing it?

I have referenced below several articles I found interesting on the ‘error’ topic along with their blog sites.

A. In the Face: eBook Errors by Rich Adin – 9/16/2010 from his blog: An American Editor

B. Error-Free E-books Will Come “When Cars Can Drive Themselves” by Olivia Snaije -

     8/23/2011 from the blog: PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES

C. Ebook Madness: Don't Confuse Ebook Conversion With Ebook Formatting! by April L. Hamilton      - 10/20/10 from her blog: Indie Author

View my website: HBSystems Publications

Or EMAIL at: jrm@hbspub.com

Author: Call Off The Dogs, a rendered ebook

LinkedIn Profile: James Moushon

Ebook Authors: Travel Guides are the Ultimate eBooks

Do you want to create a travel guide that is the centerpiece of your reader’s travel experience? You know an ebook that is the foundation of their travel decisions. A travel package that they have at their fingertips. One that will help them with every part of their journey.

You can do this but you need to look at your ebook differently. You cannot create just a copy of your bound version.

Last week I got involved in a discussion on Linkedin which was started by Nola Lee Kelsey of ‘The Voluntary Traveler’ about creating travel guides as eBooks.

This brought back a memory of an experience I had last November. At the time I thought that ebook authors were missing the boat on the opportunity to create a living, breathing guide that took advantage of a digital book. It has linking ability. It is convenient and portable. You can add notes and highlights.

I think travel books could be the ultimate ebook. The information in paper travel guides become inaccurate over time and the Internet links become quickly out of date.

Ultimate eBook

So what is the ultimate ebook? Right up front I suggest it should not be just a reproduction of the paper book. For starters, it must contain a live link back to the author, publisher and even the cover designer, editor and so on. I shouldn’t even have to mention that one.

But we are discussing the ultimate ebook here.

It should include links to the Internet for special references. The rendering process should create real links here not just the written URL for the site. This is a problem in many ebooks today.

It should allow a path to the Internet for the reader to find an updated link when one goes bad and as they always do.

In-book links should be inserted pointing the reader to extra material to assist them in defining special terms.

The ebook should have color pictures that fit on a small device screen. Eventually all devices will have color. Video clips will be common place.

It should be created so that it is easy for the author to update and change information.

The ultimate ebook should allow notes and highlights that can be copied to other applications like copying a paragraph to a Word document.

Keywords should be inserted at the appropriate place to allow easy searching.

The content should be written in snapshots, or chunks of information rather than a long dissertation.

So where does the Travel Guide fit into this and why do I claim it can be the ultimate ebook? Because it can be the complete deal. It can not only present valuable information but it can be the center point for your travel experience using the digital world. Let me explain.

Trouble in Paradise

I am a frequent traveler either by car, by bus or by plane. I am not picky. Just say let’s go and I am ready. Hawaii was calling so I started planning for my 10 days in paradise. This should be easy. I went online to purchase a Travel Guide about beautiful Hawaii. I thought an ebook version would be my best alternative, being portable and all. I downloaded a sample and I stopped right there.

As with many ebooks today, this was a very poor reproduction of the paper version. The table of content was one of the very worst I have seen. The book’s price ($12.95) was completely out of the question for what I was getting. So reluctantly I purchased the paper version. ($14.95)

Now I was stuck with over 750 pages of very good information that I could highlight and use to make my plans. As you can see from my picture at the start of this blog, I had no room to pack the guide in my luggage so I had to take a lot of notes.

How could a Travel Guide ebook and an ereader or tablet solve my problems? I started brainstorming how this experience could be improved and this is what I came up with.

The Travel Guide

Let’s start by saying the Travel Guide needs to be a package of information that will guide me through the planning and the sightseeing and leisure time with my being able to control the costs as much as I can.

A travel package, unlike a lot of Google searches, puts all the information and references I need under one roof so to speak or at least on my tablet. I recommend a tablet for convenience and portable and the extra apps benefit.

The author needs to use color pictures to sell his ideas. There is nothing like a gorgeous photo to spur interest in a location.

He should bundle apps with his ebook. Make apps available for the convenience of the reader. The free ones get the most interest.

The Travel Guide should be turned on for Kindle public notes. The author can use this vehicle to update information until the guide can be republished with updated information. Besides it is a good opportunity to hear what reader’s think about the content. In the past I sought used travel guides because former users would usually highlight things they were interested in. Sometimes you could catch a gem like a unique restaurant or night club. Others experiences speak volumes.

Another opportunity is to reference other books in the guide that are about the destination. Throw in a link to a travel game as an incentive to buy.

Paper travel guides have some problems that can be overcome with a well done Travel Guide package. The paper version’s biggest problem of course is the information is cast in concrete. The ebook can solve this problem big time.

Planning the Trip

So the ultimate Travel Guide armed with great descriptive content and color pictures starts the planning process. Now the traveler’s big money decisions need help from the author.

Budgeting and expenses/costs

Displaying a range of prices to assist in the budgeting is a big help. A spreadsheet or a template for tracking the budget is a good giveaway plus you have the opportunity to capture the reader’s name and a communication avenue like the email address.

Planning and Itinerary

The format for a digital plan could be incorporated like the budgeting above.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Now that I am here, how do I get around? Transportation information links can be invaluable for a tourist including subways and trolley data, where needed.

Hotels and Accommodation

A digital matrix of possible selections can help the traveler better organize the trip.

Appointments and Tours

A schedule app can help the reader organize their stay more efficiently. Bundle it in the complete travel package.

Paradise Cove Beach

So I am off to Honolulu armed with the ultimate travel package and a library of ebooks for my reading pleasure. I like the tourist traps so they are highlighted in my Travel Guide and I have added extra notes to jog my memory.

I have all the tools loaded on my tablet that I need to survive the island. But I have more in my package. I have a calendar with the special events I have scheduled like my luau at Paradise Cove, my Island tour and my visit to Pearl Harbor.

I have photo gallery software to keep my pictures organized. I use the tablet camera and note the location and time as I take them. I have software to keep track of the current weather and the forecast. I even have a currency calculator and a language guide loaded which I hope I don’t need.

And for those who enjoy the night life too much and need to ask the question. ‘Where in the world am I?’ I have Google Earth and Maps installed and a GPS locator to help me get back to the hotel.

Back Home at Last

All good things must come to an end. Back home I now have a record of my trip. I can compare my budget to the expenses I have been tracking as well as checking my credit card charges when the bill arrives.

I have a permanent record of the great time I had, all thanks to the Travel Guide package.

So What Makes the Travel Guide the Ultimate eBook?

1. It is a digital package and can be stored on an electronic device for easy carrying.
2. It is convenient and easy to update and add information.
3. If the authors rendering process is complete, the links will be there to access current prices, phone numbers, street addresses and web sites.
4. Turning on public notes can help in the planning as well as a record of the experience.
5. The Travel Guide ebook becomes part of the travel experience. It makes the content unique.

It makes the ebook a total experience not just a reference book.

Other Opportunities

Other opportunities for authors are publishing the Travel Guide in parts, being more specific to a location. I was headed to Oahu and information on the other islands was overkill. A smaller edition about Honolulu would have been just fine.

A frequent traveler may want a special version created for them or maybe a paid serial publication for travel destinations with updated information.

You may even want to include ads specials to various locations and link into affiliate sales to increase revenue.

The author must try to drive the reader to his home website. Updating the information must be an ongoing process. A path for the reader to access updated ebook links is a large opportunity.

We should take lessons from what you can do with a Travel ebook and carry it over to other kinds of ebooks.

You say this is all on the Internet. It is all about time and convenience. A complete package can save the reader hours of surfing and put dollars in his pocket. It would be the ultimate choice.

What do you think about my choice for the ultimate ebook? Can you think of any other candidate for the ultimate award?

Related blogs:

Rendering Your Ebook
Use the Power of Links

View my website: HBSystems Publications

Or EMAIL at: jrm@hbspub.com
Author: Call Off The Dogs, a rendered ebook
LinkedIn Profile: James Moushon

Ebook Industry: Where Is Microsoft?

As the ebook industry progresses and the major players compete, it seems we are headed in several directions at once. Self-publishing authors are confused where to start with all the various formats and devices and platforms to publish on.

The major players are bent on keeping control of their domain as they clash with each other for control of the industry. You have Amazon and Barnes and Noble in a struggle for control of the online distribution business and the sale of low end ereaders.

Then you have Apple and the ipad and ibooks positioned a notch-up in price.

Following is Google with their great exposure and Adobe with their brand in the PDF format. As these major players battle it out, one question begs to be asked. Where is Microsoft?

A lesson from the past

We have been through this same type of industry fragmentation. The PC industry in the early 1980’s was in just as much disarray as the ebook industry today with major companies fighting for control.

I know. I was at ground zero on this one. When the PC industry started, the Phoenix area was a hot bed of PC development. Motorola was building the 68000 processor for Apple/MAC and Microage was franchising computer stores across the country. DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) was entrenched in the minicomputer industry and had a large presence in the valley.

In 1980, I started a custom software development company in Phoenix to try to jump on the bandwagon. But like the ebook industry of today, the PC startup industry lacked standards. There were lots of different microcomputers. Each one had a different programming language and operating system. It wasn’t anything to be working on three custom projects with three different makes of microcomputers and three different programming languages.

At that time Digital Research was the leader in operating systems (CP/M) for the PC industry and Apple and Radio Shack (TRS-80) had begun their PC hardware adventure.

In 1980, IBM entered the PC industry and everything changed. They needed an operating system so they contacted the leader, Digital Research. They promptly refused because they wanted to control the process. Sound familiar.

Microsoft to the rescue. Microsoft agreed to IBM’s terms plus they added a Basic Programming language. Now software developers had something to hang their hat on. That one decision made Microsoft the leader in the software industry. MS-DOS made it a standard playing field for all the players.

IBMs next move was to try to control the startup of the PC industry. They licensed Computerland and Sears Computer Stores to sell the IBM PC exclusively. They put together MS-DOS(really PC-DOS), Lotus 1-2-3, and their PC and sold them through the stores. The PC wars had begun. This is similar to the confusion in the ebook industry today.

The PC needed software to make it useful. Lotus 1-2-3 started the ball rolling with the first spreadsheet written especially for the IBM PC. Following right behind 1-2-3 was the WordStar word processor and the dBase database system. These were the “big three” as someone once said. These were indeed killer apps.

These were great tools but users wanted them to work together. The parts were greater than the total product in this case.

Lotus Symphony was the first attempt at combining the three functions together with mild success. Again users were accustomed to the killer apps and the Lotus database and the word processor fell way short. It was not really designed for joint tasks.

Again Microsoft to the rescue. In 1989 they introduced Microsoft Office. It combined Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint with Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Later they added Microsoft Access. Now users had the interrelationship they were looking for. Ebook users are looking for the same interrelationship. They want to do more with the information than just read it once.

Back then, the marketing was done by computer store. Prospects could easily touch and feel the products and the sales soared.

I will only mention COMDEX briefly because of the major part it played and as a segue into my ‘needs’ takeaways on this blog. It was a computer trade show held in Las Vegas every November. It started in 1979 and continued for over twenty years. This is where major product announcements and releases were made. It had been a “must attend” event in the industry.

For the last few years of existence of COMDEX, Microsoft kept the show going taking up a considerable amount of the convention floor. It was a place where small companies could display their wares and hope to catch on with dealers across the country.

Microsoft and the eBook

Being entrenched in the digital conversation world since 1994, I started changing my focus to ebooks in 2003. One of my clients wanted to put together a system using a PDA. So off to the computer store I went to buy a Palm Pilot V with its syncing ability.  At the same time I purchased my first ebook reader, a RCA REB1100.

I thought I would put their technical manuals on one to help them with the information overload they had developed. Immediately a problem arose that still plagues the industry. The REB1100 had a proprietary format which did not allow documents to be created in-house. Calibre has solved this problem now.

Ebooks were not new. The Project Gutenberg had been going on for years and most computer technical manuals included a CD with text, html or PDF files but no one had tackled any main stream novels or anything like that.

I started working with Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader (now called Adobe Digital Editions) and the Microsoft eBook Reader. I had been using the Adobe’s PDF files for a while but the free Microsoft ebook software seemed to be the best choose.

Most ereaders had screen problems, especially in bright light, but Microsoft’s Cleartype display technology solved the on-screen reading problem. Also, they had an add-in program that let you take a document in MS-Word and create an ebook automatically. (LIT format) A very simple process.

Their software included bookmarks, notes, a library function, online ordering and the ability to create free-form drawings or margin notes. You could zoom in on pictures and highlight text. It ran on any Windows platform including Windows Mobile.

It seemed like the best choice because Microsoft was entrenched in the computer industry. It seemed to be where the expansion was going in the new ebook industry. Wrong. Microsoft dropped the ball for some reason.

Now the ebook industry is fragmented with numerous formats and proprietary ereader operating systems with no path upward to the next level of devices. For example, you cannot insert notes and highlights on an ereader and do anything with that information on a PC without a lot of work.

What do we need?

We need standardization. Not necessarily one format but devices that can read the most popular formats. A tablet like the ipad can read the popular formats but the cost rules out many readers from ever going digital.

We need a place for a hands on experience like a computer store or a bookstore. Recently I visited an Apple store and I could not believe the activity the store was experiencing. Of course they are limited to the Apple offerings. Bookstores are positioned to push this concept forward because they are not tied to one solution.

The ebook industry needs a ‘SHOW’ presence. You know. A must attend show for readers and authors and device manufacturers with product displays and workshops. Maybe the computer electronics show held in Las Vegas every January would be a good start. At the CES show this year, ereaders were ‘the thing’ at the show but ereaders were a small fraction of the total activity.

We need a device with an upward capability to be able to do more than just read the ebook but use its content in other meaningful ways. Tablets will be the key here but the need for the low-cost device that just allows a good read will not go away.

We need an even lower cost color device to appear that is aimed at the children’s market. You know the kind that is made out of hard plastic that can be dropped and the content can be controlled by the parents. No need for WIFI or 3G here. A USB or Simm card will work just fine.

So where is Microsoft?

We know they are up in the clouds. Will this be our answer? In the future, will all ebooks be up in the clouds, ready for us to snag, read and go on our way? Maybe we are talking about paying a small charge to view an ebook but not necessarily downloading it to a device like the Netflix model.

We need a company to smooth out the process. It is going to be fun watching how all this shakes out. At the end of the day, new software and digital devices will lead the way.

To read a related article, ‘Lessons For the eBook Industry – Study the E-Forms Industry Beginning’, click here.

Another blog came across my desk, forwarded by Dominique Raccah via Linkedin,  about Booki.sh, a cloud eBook distributor, that is good reading on the cloud distribution topic.

Let me know what you think about where the ebook industry is going? What else do we need to do to push the process forward? Who out there wants to start an ebook only oriented convention?

View my website: HBSystems Publications

Or EMAIL at: jrm@hbspub.com

Or goto my blog: The eBook Author Corner

Author: Call Off The Dogs, a rendered ebook